Literary notes about serve (AI summary)
In literature, the word serve takes on a variety of nuanced meanings. It can describe the physical act of preparing and presenting food, as seen when dishes are meticulously readied for consumption ([1],[2],[3]), yet it also denotes subservience or duty; characters may serve a sovereign or leader, revealing themes of loyalty, social hierarchy, and even personal sacrifice ([4],[5],[6]). Additionally, serve is employed metaphorically to indicate that something fulfills its intended purpose, whether it be an idea that instructs understanding or an object that demonstrates a particular function ([7],[8],[9]). This multiplicity of meanings enriches the text, inviting readers to consider both the literal and figurative realms of service in human experience.
- "Yes," said she, "he has taken the chickens which I was just going to serve up, off the dish, and has run away with them!"
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - Boil them tender and blanch them, being cold lard them, or roast them plain without lard, baste them with butter, and serve them on gallendine sauce.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - ON A DISH, POUR OVER THE [sauce, colored with] REDUCED MUST, SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER AND SERVE.
— from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius - Being poor they are obliged to serve you.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley - These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes; And they have seized Marina.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - "In this way you have come to realize that a worthy leader has the desire to serve, and not to dominate.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - This will serve to show how narrow some of the chutes were.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain - The principles which arise from their reference to the sensible world, only serve our understanding for empirical use.
— from Kant's Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics by Immanuel Kant - I give a diagram of an imaginary maze of a very simple character that will serve our purpose just as well as something more complex (Fig. 20).
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney
